BRIEF HISTORY

OF ENGLISH
By: Afra Fitriani, S.S., M.Pd.
BASIC QUESTIONS
English is today's most international language (20% speak it),
but...
• When and where was it born?
• How did it evolve?
• How did it spread around the globe?
• What languages are related to English?
• What other languages influenced English?
THE ORIGINS
It is impossible to say the
exact time and place when a
language is born.

There are always previous

languages that give some
material, contacts with other
languages, etc.
THE CELTIC STOCK
The Celtic language was one of the
first known to be recorded in Britain
before the following invasions of the
island.

Celtic tribes (coming from Europe)

lived in Britain in the Iron Age for
over 500 years until the arrival of the
Romans.
THE CELTS IN EUROPE
 THE ROMAN INVASION

Julius Caesar conquered Britain in

55 BC and Claudius in 43 AD, but
it wasn't permanent or really
influential.

Latin was never the language of

the people, it was only the
language of the ruling class.
 THE ROMAN INVASION

Rome introduced Latin words in

commerce, religion, army, some
place names, etc.

Christianity introduced more

Latin in the English language later
on.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
THE ANGLO-SAXON CONQUE

Different Germanic tribes coming

from current Denmark conquered
Britain in 449 AD.

The Angles and the Saxons were very

important and gave English its basic
vocabulary and structures. English is
Teutonic in essence.
THE ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST
 OLD ENGLISH
The Anglo-Saxon language
is also known as Old
English and it is the
primitive form of modern
English.
The Angles gave the name
of the country (England,
"land of Angles").
Some words coming from
Anglo-Saxon are:

man eat house

work woman

This language also left the

"Saxon Genitive" (Terry's
brother)
 THE
GERMANIC
FAMILY
 THE VIKINGS
In the 9th and 10th centuries
Vikings from Scandinavia
occupied the North-East of
Britain.

Their language, Old Norse

(connected with the Anglo-
Saxon), gave many words to the
English language.
THE VIKINGS INVASION
 OLD NORSE
Some basic everyday words
in English come from Old
Norse:

sky leg take

window call dirt
church
 THE NORMAN CONQUEST

The Normans came from

Normandy, Northern France in
1066.

It was the last invasion in England

but had an enormous influence in
many aspects of British life:
habits, language, society,
literature, justice, etc.
THE NORMAN
CONQUEST
FRENCH INFLUENCE
French was the language of the top
of society (government, church,
justice...) and little by little its
influence spread a bit to the rest of
the population who always spoke
English.

This is the birth of Anglo-French.

The Normans brought more than
10,000 words into English, 75%
still in use and no longer felt as
foreign.

By the 13th / 14th centuries only

the top class uses French. By 15th
century it disappears but always as
a favourite foreign language.

With French also came a lot of

Latin vocabulary.
MIDDLE ENGLISH
This is the span from 11th
to 15th centuries.
Some French words
incorporated were:

court advise
mutton govern
sovereign duke
 The Great Vowel Shift
meant the complete
dissolution between
spelling and
pronunciation (the first
was kept while the second
evolved a lot).
English was not a unique
language but a collection of
dialects (Southern dialects
were more important).
 MIDDLE
ENGLISH
DIALECTS
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
This is the span from 15th to
17th centuries.

The use of the printed press

helped to fix the language.

The Renaissance meant the

arrival of many classical terms
from Latin and Greek (only at
cultivated level).
CLASSICAL LANGUAGES
These languages gave many
words for different sciences and
disciplines (not for common
language).
physics radius
history
architecture
educate algebra
THE BRITISH ISLES
English is now the official
language imposed on the whole of
Great Britain and also taken to
Ireland.

More regional languages (Welsh

and Pictish) are pushed away and
nearly disappeared.
 THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Britain is now a powerful nation

and begins its colonial expansion.

North America was the first

colony but later many more
territories were incorporated to the
Empire.
 THE BRITISH EMPIRE
By 1870 67% of non-European countries are
British.
OTHER LANGUAGES
The expansion of English
worldwide meant contact with
other languages that gave more
new words to English:
tea tornado
sauna tattoo
yatch futon
boomerang pasta
LINGUA FRANCA
Today English is an
international language for
communication with more than
1,000 million speakers:

• 400 m as native speakers

• 600 m as second language
speakers
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

English has different variations in every

country (British, American, Australian...)
and also more local dialects (Brummie,
Geordie, Cockney... in the UK)

American English is no doubt the

predominant one (TV, cinema, music, the
Internet...)
 FUTURE OF ENGLISH

English will probably be the international

language in the future.

Today's communication prevents the

breaking up of English into different
languages.
THANKS
BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH